Oktoberfest. according to wikipedia....Oktoberfest is a sixteen-day festival held each year in Munich, Germany, running from late September to early October. It is one of the most famous events in Germany and the world's largest fair, with some six million people attending every year, and is an important part of Bavarian culture. Other cities across the world also hold Oktoberfest celebrations, modeled after the Munich event.

I love the Lederhosen. I was pretty disappointed that they aren't as popular in Northern Germany, where I spent six weeks. p.s. they are quite expensive, seeing as how they are made from leather & very decorated brilliantly!

Maßkrug,or in English, "1-liter beer steins" are carried by the waitresses & are much heavier than you would think. I could barely hold an empty one!

"Amount of beer consumed at the2008 Oktoberfest in Munich: 6.5 million 1-liter mugs."

i love the gingerbread hearts with so many sweet messages!

i adore all the beautiful outfits & i think the little kids look absolutely precious!

my kids WILL be dressing up when we go.

one of the many beer halls during the day.

i love that everyone dresses up! its such a lovely tradition!

even at night the streets are filled!

& this is one of my favorites:

i love the cute smile & blushing of the Polizei girl! how cute!

Oh dear Oktoberfest, I shall visit you someday & I will love you even more than I expected! xo-

p.s. you should check out this adorable post by kim from Baroque Babies about her dirndl & her experience with Oktoberfest!

Monday, September 28, 2009

“What I hope most of all is that you understand what I mean when I tell you that, even though I do not know you, and even though I may never meet you, laugh with you, cry with you, or kiss you, I love you. With all my heart, I love you.”

sometimes i wonder how one day can be absolutely happy for no particular reason.i wonder why some days our hearts are far more tender than normal. i wonder how people can say such disheartening things. i wonder if maybe i have done something to make someone else sad. i wonder what people are thinking about in their hearts as they go about their daily lives.

perhaps the girl reading flashcards on the bus is suffering from a newly broken heart- the boy across the aisle in class, who stares ahead so very intently, maybe his mind is running non-stop with about fears of losing his ill grandfather-- & maybe the shy girl in the front row, who takes diligent notes, is really about to explode with excitement over a wonderful date from the night before... people hide so much from the world, i think we all do.

i wonder how sometimes i can be laughing about something so very silly & within the next minute be brought to tears from something which hurts my heart so. & then there are days in which nothing seems to be going right & you wonder if you were naive for having woken up with a feeling of hope for the day. the day which later would slowly prove to be a day of disappointments.

today i became very discouraged. i wondered how much my life would be impacted by a low grade on a single test, or the fact that i forgot one little assignment.then i realized:it can matter for the moment, but i won't let it sour my overall feelings.i will be sad. i will feel disappointed...but at the end of the day i must dust myself off, get up off the ground, and let the world know that i will sometimes fail.

but my failures will only make me wiser, make me stronger, make me me.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

"Decide to fall in love with the world & it will swoop you up in its arms & smother you with kisses. You will get all your joy & excitement back a million times over. This is real, this is how it works. Even when you feel hard & cold & angry, you have more love to give away than you could ever believe possible. It is infinite like galaxies. Just give it away. Imagine cartoon hearts in hot pink & vivid red floating out of your chest & popping over the heads of everyone, showering them with hope & blessings & encouragement, & your life will begin to change. It will become this sparkling carousel of magic & wonder."

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

i was in fourth grade, laying on the floor in front of our living room t.v. with my feet resting on the fireplace step. my siblings were all in high school and it was a saturday night. naturally, saturday night live was what we had all gathered to watch. this saturday there were new anchors on weekend update. one was tina fey. one was jimmy fallon.as i watched that night i was especially delighted to see a funny woman with glasses &confidence receiving all the laughs. i, in that very moment, embraced my corky-nerdiness. as time went on came to simply adoretina fey & amy poehler.

“I like to crack the jokes now and again, but it’s only because I struggle with math.” -Tina Fey.

“I want to go on the record and say I have never urinated in public. But the night is still young.”-Amy Poehler.

[except really this was two weeks ago, minor detail...]One day in a very invigorating lecture, in a very difficult course, a girl named Anna decided to test herself. No, she didn't test herself on anything she had been currently studying, rather she chose to channel her inner-fourth grader & see if she still had "it". "It" being a very nerdy ability to name all 50 states in less than an hour-- with out even the outline of a map. "Could it be done?" she asked herself, hesitating when realizing how long ago fourth grade truly had been. But Anna wasn't one to just turn down a challenge. So, Anna flipped to a fresh page in her lecture notes spiral notebook & embarked on the challenge. Although she struggled at times & had to look up with a look of serious ponder-idge, she, in fact, did "it".

"It" had been done. With ten minutes to spare. That's right, this Anna had listed all fifty states in under 40 minutes; with no map, no help.

Of course, Anna was simply elated & had a hard time containing her excitement in the last ten minutes of lecture. once the class was dismissed Anna turnedexcitedlyto her friend next to her& exclaimed her feat:

His response: "Did you really come to lecture to do that?!"Anna's response: "Oh, so clearly you came to improve on YOUR doodling."

Monday, September 21, 2009

“Tell her how you admire her.Always tell her you love her, at all times. When shes upset, hold her tight.Pick her over all the other girls you hang out with. Play with her hair, pick her up, tickle her, and wrestle with her. Just talk to her. Tell her jokes. Bring her flowers, just because.Hold her hand & run, just hold her hand.Throw pebbles at her window at night. Let her fall asleep in your arms.Sing to her no matter how awful you sound. Get her mad at you, then kiss her.Give her piggy back rides. Push her on swings.Tell her she looks beautiful. When she’s sad, stay on the phone with her,even if she’s not saying anything. Look into her eyes and smile.Kiss her on her forehead. Slow dance with her even if theres no music.Kiss her in the rain.”

Saturday, September 19, 2009

today we went to look for my friend Liz's wedding dress!it was so fun &everythingshe tried on lookedabsolutely beautiful...making it so very hard for her to pick just one! i suggested she pick three & have wardrobe changes throughout the day. ha!here are some photos from our safari:isn't that bow just wonderful?!!?!?i HAVE to remember that idea whenever its time to embark on my safari!& also{!} Liz found the one! but of course i couldn't blog it, nick might peek!!xo-

p.s. {if you ARE reading this nick, first off, hi!! & secondly, nice try...ha!}p.p.s. i apologize for the explosive use of the exclamation points, however, it is oh, so very necessary for such an occasion!! ; )

My sister Katie and her husband are visiting my brother up at school in Wisconsin this week with their girls Carolyn & Julia. So naturally, like any Allen family excursion, they stopped by one of Laura Ingalls Wilder's houses! (turns out she lived all over the midwest!)

The girls were just thrilled seeing as how they just finished reading the entire series of Little House in the Big Woods.

Don't they look like little prairie girls?! I love it!check out more of their adventures here & at my sister Katie's blog.xo-

LinkWithin

*

I can dwell on font choices for hours, make a mean pb&j, and sometimes, when I'm feeling brave, I like to rock red lipstick. I am a University of Kansas alumna (I earned degrees in German and Journalism in May 2012) and a former au pair

(I lived and worked in Eckernförde, Germany in 2011). I lived in Munich for one wonderful year; moved back to Kansas for 8 months; and then back to Germany I went. I've been in Hamburg since October of 2014. I am a copywriter by day and a wannabe memoirist by night. This is where I chronicle my adventures, ponders, heartaches, triumphs, favorite finds, and everything in between. I'm so happy you're here!